The transport of garbage presents a continuous problem for railway systems. Gondola cars are appropriate railway vehicles for the transport of such garbage. Unfortunately, the uncovered nature of gondola cars allows such garbage to escape and to be deposited along the railroad tracks.
Since garbage can be of greatly varying size, density, proportion, and volume, removal of the garbage from such gondola cars can be a difficult problem. Present gondola cars require complicated systems for simple unloading procedures. Most of these techniques require expensive facilities that cost millions of dollars. Typical unloading systems turn the cars upside down or allow the material to be dropped through the track onto conveyor systems. If such facilities are not available, then the gondola cars must be unloaded by hand or by some type of machinery. Typically, the machinery will dip out one bucket at a time and place it onto the ground or onto awaiting trucks. This is a fairly slow process which requires a large number of cars to wait while a single machine unloads them one at a time. Alternatively, various unloaders have been developed that cause a tractor-shovel to traverse the top edge of the gondola car so that the hydraulic excavator may dip into the gondola car so as to extract materials. The systems are quite cumbersome and difficult to use. They require specialized equipment and specialized operating procedure. They are not particularly suited for the transport of garbage.
U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 07/302,380, filed on Jan. 27, 1989, to Edwin deS. Snead, the inventor of the present application, provides a system for the transport of bulk commodities. Specifically, in this application, a continuous gondola car system is disclosed which allows for a continuous runway throughout the plurality of gondola cars. A simple tractor-shovel is placed onto this continuous runway and may be operated so as to easily remove the material from the gondola car. The tractor-shovel will traverse the entire length of the runway so as to empty the gondola car train with a minimum of expense, with a maximum of efficiency, and with a simple procedure.
Various U.S. patents have been issued that provide various systems for the covering of hopper or gondola cars. U.S. Pat. No. 4,239,008, issued on Dec. 16, 1980, to E. B. Conlon, discloses a railway car hatch cover in which a set of hinged covers are adapted to sealably close the rectangular hatch on the roof of a railway hopper car. Each of the covers has a vaulted formation so as to shed water. Suitable latches are provided which allow this cover to lift upwardly about hinges along one side. Unfortunately, such a system is not suitable for use with a continuous gondola car. Since the hinged covers are permanently mounted over the hopper car, there would not be room for the complete operation of the tractor-shovel within the continuous runway. Additionally, the hinging of a cover to the exterior edges of a gondola car would cause the cover to rotate, possibly, into the path of adjoining railway tracks.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,831,792, issued on Aug. 27, 1974, to Waterman et al., discloses an open top gondola car having a plurality of hinged covers that are arranged adjacent to each other. During the loading and unloading of the car, the hinged covers traverse a pathway that automatically causes the covers to lift upwardly. Once again, this apparatus hinges the cover about one side of the gondola car.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,736,883, issued on June 5, 1973, to Yang et al., shows a railway hopper oar roof structure that includes roof hatch covers that are pivotally attached to the central portion of the roof. Suitable linkage is provided to permit upward and inward rotation of the hatch covers when a lifting force is applied to one of the covers. In the top position, the covers form an inverted V on top of the hopper car so as to aid in the direct loading through these hatches.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a gondola car cover that effectively closes the interior of the gondola car.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a cover for a gondola car that can be removed without interfering with adjoining track. It is another object of the present invention to provide a cover for a gondola car that is particularly adaptable for us on continuous gondola car configurations. It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a cover for a gondola car that facilities in the loading, unloading, and transport of garbage within the gondola car. These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims.